Card shuffling device



Dec. 20, 1955 c. w. SEMISCH, JR

CARD SHUFFLING DEVICE 2 Sheets-Sheet 1 Filed July 8, 1952 IN VEN TOR.Charles W. Semisch,zTr.

flfiorneyi W W, W

Dec. 20, 1955 c. w. SEMISCH, JR

CARD SHUFFLING DEVICE 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 Filed July 8, 1952 INVENTOR.Charles W. S mi$ch,tTr.

flliorneys.

United States Patent C) ice 2,727,747 emu) SHUFFLING DEVICE Charles w.Semisch, In, st. Petershut-g, Fla. ApplicationJulyth1952; Serial No.297,623 3 claim.- (c1.2'7"3'-1'4s This invention relates to cardshuffling devices and more particularly to ahand operated card shuttlingdevice which will autcrnatieally trite-radix the cards in a deck. orpack of playing cards in an irregular manner.

It is among the objects of the invention to provide an improved cardshuttling device which is of small size and light Weight so that it canbe easily carried place replace and can be placed on a card table whendesired; which is hand operated to interniix the cards of a pack ofplaying cards in an irregular manner and can also be usedtc dividethecards into separate hands of a predetermined number of cards in eachhand; which speeds up and facilitates the shuffling of the cards andmaintains the' cards in full view while being shuttled or divided intohands; which provides means which holds the cards against scatteringwhile being: shuffled; and which is simple and durablein constructioneconomical to manufacture, easy to use; and neat and attractive inappearance.

other objects and advantages will become apparent from a considerationof the following description and the appended claims in conjunctionwiththe accompanying drawings wherein:

Fighre 1 is a side elevati'onal view of a card shufiling deviceillustrative of the invention with the device in closedxposition";

A Figure 2 is' a; front elevational view of the device illustrated inFigure 1; i

in Figures 1 and 2;

Figure4 is a side elevatiohal vieiv similar to Figure l but showing thedevice open position;

Figurefi is a perspective view-of a oard receivingfrarne constituting anoperative component of the device;

Figure 6 is a perspective view of a roller constituting an operativecomponent of the device;

Figure" 7 is a cross: sectional view on an enlarged scale on thelinc'7.- 7 of Figure 3;

Figure 3 's 2 top plan view of the device asillustrated Figure 8 is" across sectional: view on the line "with continued reference to' thedrawings, the device c ofhiprises 2t rectangularho ener lly indicated athavingfspaced apart and substantially/parallel side walls 11 and 12,spaced apart and substantially parallel top and benefit walls 13' and 14and a back wall 15 per endicular tdtttl'ey side and h'iid walls', Theboxalso hasiapart' i tioiijwall lfijdispojsed midway btweenthe' top andbottom walls 13" and 14 and parallel to the latter dividing the box2,727,747 Patented Dec. 20, 1955 2 into two card-receiving chambers 17and 18 of substantially equal size.

The box has no front wall and the top, bottom and partition walls have awidth rna'terially less" than the Width of the side walls 11 and 12 andhave their rear edges abutting the back wall 15 and their front edges ina plane spaced inwardly from and substantially parallel to the frontedges of the side walls 11 and 12.

Rollers 20 and 21 of cylindrical shape extend transversely of the boxand are joarn'aled at their opposite end in the side walls 11' and 12.The roller 20 is positioned immediately above the partition wall 16 andadjacent the front edge of the partition wall and the" roller 21 isp'tis'itioned immediately above the bottom wall14'andadjaoent the frontedge of the bottom wall. The roller 20 has en circling bands 22 and 23of friction material,- such as vulcanized rubber, disposed one near eachend thereof and the roller 21 has similar bands 24 and 25 for engagingthe bottom cards of stacks of cards placed on the rollers and moving thebottom cards of the stacks successively outwardly of the chambers 17 and18 through the open front side of the box,

The roller 20 has a bore 26 extending coaxially therethrough and a shaft27 extends through the bore 26 of the roller 20 and through apertures 28and 29 in the side" walls 11 and 12 respectively and projects outwardlyfrom the outer side of the side wall 12, as illustrated in Figure 8.

The roller 21 has a bore 3% extending coaxially therethrough and a shaft31 extends through the bore of the roller 21 and through apertures 32and 33 in'the side walls 11 and 12 and also extends at one end outwardlyof the outer side of the side wall 12. A peripherally grooved pulley 35is mounted on the shaft 27 at the outer side of the side wall 12 and asimilar peripherally grooved pulley 36 is mounted on the shaft 31 at theouter side of the side wall ,12. A belt 38 in the form of an endlesscoil spring is entrained around the pulleys 35 and 36 to constrain therollers 29 and 21 torotatein the same direction at substantially thesame speed. s

A knob 40 of cylindrical shape projects outwardly from the shaft 27 atthe outer side of the pulley 35 and this knob can be rolled between thefingers of a person using the device to impart rotation to the rollers20 and 21.

A U-sha-ped frame, generally indicated at 42, is pivotally connected atits open end to the box 10 by pivotal connections 43 and 44 mounted onthe side walls 11 and 12 adjacent the lower front corners of thecorresponding side walls.

The frame 42 comprises a pair of spaced apart and substantially parallellegs 45 and 46 and a Bight or intermediate portion 47 secured to thelegs 45 and 46 at corresponding ends of the latter and extending aboveand below the legs with the corners of its portion below the legs cutoff. The legs have apertures, as indicated at 48 and 49 respectively, attheir ends remote from the intermediate portion 47 to receive screwsconstituting the pivotal connections 43 and 44.

The intermediate portion 47 has a length greater than the distancebetween the outer surfaceof the side walls 11 and 12 of the box by thethickness of the flat legs 45 and 46 so that the legs can be disposed atthe outer sides of the corresponding side walls of the box and swingabout the pivotal connections 43 and 44 and has awid'th substantiallyequal to twice the distance from the front edge of the top wall 13 ofthe box to the front edges of the side walls 11 and 12-. The frame canbe swung to a position in which the intermediate portion 47 thereofrests on the top ends of the side walls 11 and- 12 of the box with itsupper edge engaging the front edge of the top wall 13 and closes thespace between the front edge of the top wall 13 and the front 3 edges ofthe side walls 11 and 12 of the box, as shown in Figure 3. The frame canbe swung downwardly from the above position to a position in which thelower edge of its intermediate portion rests on an associated table andits legs incline upwardly from their pivotal connections with the sidewalls to said intermediate portion. In this position the frame isadapted to receive cards moved out of the chambers 17 and 18 by therollers 20 and 21 during shuffling and to preventthe cards fromscattering.

In using the device to shuffle cards, the box is set in upright positionon a table and the frame 42 is moved to its position in which theintermediate portion 47 rests on the top of the table. In this positionthe lower corners of the legs 45 and 46 adjacent the pivotal connections44 engage the top of the table and slightly raise the front of the box10. The pack of cards to be shufiled is then divided into twosubstantially equal parts and one part, as indicated at 53, is placed inthe chamber 17 with its bottom surface near the end thereof adjacent thefront side of the box resting on the roller 20. The other part of thedeck, constituting a stack 54, is placed in the chamber 18 with thebottom card thereof resting on the roller 21 near the end of the stackadjacent the open front side of the box. The rollers 20 and 21 are thenrotated in a direction, as indicated by arrows in Figure 11, to move thebottom cards of the two stacks 53 and 54 outwardly of the chambers 17and 18 and into the frame 42.

As the rollers are rotated the bottom cards of each stack aresuccessively moved from the chambers 17 and 18 into the frame 42 witheach bottom card from one stack falling upon the corresponding bottomcard from the other stack. The bottom card from the upper stack willnot, however, always fall upon the corresponding bottom card from thelower stack, the relative positions of the corresponding bottom cardsfrom the two stacks being irregularly reversed and it may also happen attimes that two cards will be moved from one stack during an interval inwhich only one card is moved from the other stack. This provides anirregular intermixing of the cards which would render any attempt to fixor stack the deck unsuccessful. Also, as the cards are shuffled in fullview of all of the players there is no opportunity to intentionallyarrange the cards before they are dealt.

When the device is used for dividing the pack of cards into separatehands a stack of cards which may be less than the entire pack is placedin the upper compartment 17 and rests on the upper roller 20, asillustrated in Figure 7, and the frame 42 is positioned so that itsintermediate portion overlies the upper edges of the side walls 11 and12 at thefront edge of the top wall 13. The rollers are then rotated ina direction such that the top roller 20 moves the bottom cards from thestack 56 one at a time out of the chamber 18 and into the frame 42.Engagement of the front ends of the cards with the under surface of theintermediate frame portion 47 singles the cards out as they are removedfrom the bottom of the stack by the roller 20. The cards are counted asthey fall on the table when a predetermined number of cards have beenmoved out of the box onto the table and the cards, constituting one handof playing cards, are removed andhanded to a player.

The frame is raised to the uppermost position, as illustrated in Figure1, when the two stacks of cards 53 and 54 are placed in the box tofacilitate placing the cards in the box by moving the intermediateportion 47 of the frame out of the way at this time and is then loweredfor shufiling of the cards.

The invention may be embodied in other specific forms without departingfrom the spirit or essential characteristics thereof. The presentembodiment is, therefore, to be considered in all respects asillustrative and not restrictive, the scope of the invention beingindicated by the appended claims rather thanby the foregoingdescription, and all changes which come within the meaning and range ofequivalency of the claims are, therefore, intended to be embracedtherein.

What is claimed is:

l. A shufiiing device for a deck of cards comprising a box ofrectangular shape having top, bottom, side and back walls and having thefront side thereof open, a partition wall in said box substantiallyparallel to said top and bottom walls dividing the interior of the boxinto substantially equal card-receiving chambers, card engaging rollersfor tangential engagement with a pair of said cards, said rollersextending transversely of said box and journaled at their ends in saidside walls one above and adjacent to the front edge of said partitionwall and one above and adjacent to the front edge of said bottom wall,said rollers being parallel and vertically aligned, meansinterconnecting said rollers for simultaneous rotation in the samedirection, and means connected to one of said rollers at one end thereoffor manually rotating said rollers to move cards outwardly of saidchambers through the open front side of said box, and a U-shaped framepivotally connected at its open end to said box by pivotal connectionsdisposed one adjacent the lower front corner of each side wall andmovable to a position in which it extends outward from the bottom end ofthe front side of said box to receive cards from said rollers, saidtangential engagements being on a line contained in a plane extending atan acute angle to the vertical plane of the longitudinal axes of saidrollers.

2. A shuifiing device for a deck of cards comprising a box ofrectangular shape having top, bottom, side and back walls and having thefront side thereof open, a partition wall in said box substantiallyparallel to said top and bottom walls dividing the interior of the boxinto substantially equal card-receiving chambers, card engaging rollersfor tangential engagement with a pair of said cards, said rollersextending transversely of said box and journaled at their ends in saidside walls one above and adjacent to the front edge of said partitionwall and one above and adjacent to the front edge of said bottom wall,said rollers being parallel and vertically aligned, meansinterconnecting said rollers for simultaneous rotation in the samedirection, and means connected to one of said rollers at one end thereoffor manually rotating said rollers to move cards outwardly of saidchambers through the open front side of said box, and a U-shaped framepivotally connected at its open end to said box by pivotal connectionsdisposed one adjacent the lower front corner of each side wall andmovable to a position in which it extends outward from the bottom end ofthe front side of said box to receive cards from said rollers, said top,bottom and partition walls having their front edges disposedsubstantially in planes spaced inwardly from and substantially parallelto the front edges of said side walls, said tangential engagements beingon a line contained in a plane extending at an acute angle to thevertical plane of the longitudinal axes of said rollers.

3. A shufiling device for a deck of cards comprising a box ofrectangular shape having top, bottom, side and back Walls and having thefront side thereof open, a partition wall in said box substantiallyparallel to said top and bottom walls dividing the interior of the boxinto substantially equal card-receiving chambers, card engaging rollersfor tangential engagement with a pair of said cards, said rollersextending transversely of said box and journaled at their ends in saidside walls one above and adjacent to the front edge of said partitionwall and one above and adjacent to the front edge of said bottom wall,said rollers being parallel and vertically aligned, meansinterconnecting said rollers for simultaneous rotation in the samedirection, and means connected to one of sa id rollers at one endthereof for manually rotating said rollers to move cards outwardlyofsaid chambers through the open front side of said box, and a U-shapedframe pivotally connected at its open end to said box by pivotalconnections disposed one adjacent the lower front corner of each sidewall and movable to a position in which it extends outward from thebottom end of the front side of said box to receive cards from saidrollers, said top, bottom and partition walls having their front edgesdis posed substantially in planes spaced inwardly from and substantiallyparallel to the front edges of said side walls and said frame includingfiat legs disposed in spaced apart and substantially parallelrelationship and a flat intermediate portion disposed perpendicular tosaid legs and having a length greater than the distance between theouter surfaces of said side walls by the combined thickness of said legsand a width substantially equal to the distance from the front edge ofsaid top wall to the front edges of said side walls, said frame beingmovable from said horizontally disposed position to a position in whichsaid intermediate portion is disposed on the top ends of said 6 sidewalls between the front edges of the latter and the front edge of saidtop wall, said tangential engagements being on a line contained in aplane extending at an acute angle to the vertical plane of thelongitudinal axes of said rollers.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS636,749 Bowden Nov. 14, 1899 1,385,623 Kellogg July 26, 1921 1,885,276McKay Nov. 1, 1932 1,955,926 Matthaey Apr. 24, 1934 1,984,702 Ruckman etal. Dec. 18, 1934 2,159,958 Sachs May 23, 1939 2,646,988 Phelps July 28,1953 FOREIGN PATENTS 183,739 Germany Apr. 2, 1907

